Samsung takes on Apple's iPhone 5 as Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban scrapped

The Korean firm has folded Apple's flagship smartphone into an existing lawsuit covering iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. Meanwhile, a judge has lifted a temporary ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, as a jury found it was not infringing on Apple's patents.

Samsung has launched legal action against Apple's iPhone 5 in the US, and has also succeeded in getting a temporary ban against its Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet lifted.

Samsung has Apple's iPhone 5 in its sights. Image: CNET

The moves mark the latest chapter in the long-running global battle between the two companies, which saw Apple win more than $1bn in compensation from the Korean manufacturer in August.

In that verdict, the jury found Samsung was infringing on Apple's intellectual property in its Android smartphones but not its tablets. Judge Lucy Koh had previously granted Apple a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and late on Monday — with Samsung pointing out (PDF) that more than a month had passed since the verdict — she agreed to scrap that ban.

However, that was a relatively small event compared to Samsung taking on the iPhone 5, Apple's flagship iOS device as of September.

In a filing made on Monday, Samsung's lawyers added the iPhone 5 to a previous filing they had submitted in June. They said the alleged infringements were the same in the iPhone 5 as in previous iterations of the smartphone, and they had clearly been unable to include it in the original suit as it had not yet been launched at the time.

According to Samsung, Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch all infringe on two mobile broadband standards patents and/or six feature patents held by the Korean company.

The company has also claimed that the iPhone 5's 4G/LTE functionality infringes on its patents, but has not yet sued over those patents.

The US patents involved in this suit are:

No. 7,756,087: Method and apparatus for performing non-scheduled transmission in a mobile communication system for supporting an enhanced uplink data channel

No. 7,551,596: Method and apparatus for signaling control information of uplink packet data service in mobile communication system

No. 7,672,470: Audio/video device having a volume control function for an external audio reproduction unit by using volume control buttons of a remote controller and volume control method therefor